Caroliene Almeria Aranda

(05/27/1969 – 05/12/2022)

Caroliene was born to Fortunato Almeria and Corazon Cawit Almeria at Clark Airforce Base in the Philippines. (It was here that a typo on her birth certificate established the unique spelling of her name, so yes, that spelling is correct.) She completed her family of five along with her older siblings, Aileen and Chris. The earliest part of her life was spent living in different cities along the east coast following her father who was a naval officer. He eventually retired in South San Diego, where Caroliene laid down deep roots. She attended Juarez Lincoln Elementary and Montgomery Junior High Schools, then eventually graduated from Montgomery High School as part of the Class of 1988.

It was at Montgomery High that Caroliene met Oscar Aranda and, while she didn’t know it then, he would soon become the love of her life. They married in 1992 and quickly started their family with the birth of their first daughter, Emily. Two more daughters followed, Arlene in 1995 and Alicia in 2000. They raised their family with the love and support of their extended family, remaining close to their parents, siblings, aunts and uncles from their home in South San Diego. Eventually they expanded their family again with the arrivals of two beautiful granddaughters, Analiz in 2016 and Kayla in 2018.

Caroliene raised her family despite the fact that she faced significant health challenges throughout her life. As an infant, it was determined that she had a collapsed lung and her parents helped her with breathing treatments and exercises throughout her youth. She had the support of numerous doctors but she wasn’t always the best patient because she never wanted her medical treatments to keep her from the things that where most important to her and nothing was more important to her than caring for the people she loved…

• She was a loving wife who was a partner to Oscar, supporting his growth for over 35 years, as they faced life’s joys and challenges together.

• She was nurturing mother who taught her daughters to be strong women, allowing them only one week of sadness after a break-up since those people were not worth their tears if they wanted to break-up with them.

• She was a proud grandmother to Analiz and Kayla who she helped to care for everyday and was so looking forward to the birth of her first grandson, Adrian.

• She was a dutiful daughter who cared for her parents, attending to her mother’s care after breast cancer surgery, even as she was struggling with her own pain.

• She was a committed sister who would always insist on being there for all of their life celebrations, even if it meant sitting in several hours of traffic.

• She was a caring friend who, like her father, loved to bake and cook for them.

• She was second mom to her daugthers’ friends, who often shared advice on what was going on in their lives.

• She was a passionate San Diego sports fan, who you did not want to be around when her Chargers or Padres were not playing well.

• She was an avid reader, who carried around thousands of books on her Kindle.

While she continued to face pain, discomfort and limitations…she always powered forward. She constantly said she was fine, even when she wasn’t because she always prioritized the needs of her loved ones above her own. She was always there whenever someone need a ride, a meal or help with childcare. Even time spent in the hospital didn’t stop her, since she was often running the household from a hospital bed by making arrangements to take care of eveyone’s needs.

Caroliene loved with everything that she had. She wasn’t afraid of making people mad if it meant making them stronger and she was willing to speak hard truths, if she thought it was something you needed to hear. Her own feelings always came second to what she thought others needed. She endured a lot of challenges, but she also accomplished so much. While she was a petite 4’11, she proved herself to be one of the strongest people any of us will ever know.